While we're here, let's not forget the latest manifestation of one of America's least lovely cultural exports. Apparently this wanker even outdid the Columbine boys in terms of body count. I fear, however, the bit about him wearing black is going to be picked up on by commentators and media, and before long we'll also discover he liked Marilyn Manson. Whereupon let the persecution of goths that followed Columbine begin again... sigh.
9:49 PM | link
Incidentally, I neglected to note Dave Tepper was good enough to link to Hot Buttered Death a few days ago. I've reciprocated by adding him to the linkage at the left of the page, pulling out a few other weeds while I was at it.
9:18 PM | link
Peter Ryan gets his Athens Olympics job. Wonder how much of a payout he'd get if he quit that early.
8:53 PM | link
Josie Appleton, meanwhile, argues the Le Pen victory in France is not the blow to democracy people think it is, and that the reaction to same has been less than democratic in itself. Appleton argues that Le Pen really got the same number of votes he got in the past despite having the higher percentage of votes cast. Unfortunately, though, I think it's the vote percentage rather than the vote count which matters; after all, if you don't vote, you can't be counted. If, say, you have 100 voters, all of whom vote and one candidate gets 40 and the other 60, we can see who wins that. Now, if you only have 60 voters because 40 have stayed home and one still gets 40, we can see who wins that. Same number of votes, different percentage. Of course, as I've said before, politics is not my strong suit and I may just be talking out my arse here...
8:31 PM | link
Salman Rushdie on political apathy.
It's a terrible truth about our awful times that the people who seem to care least about freedom and democracy are the ones who have the readiest access to these treasures. [...] The disenfranchised citizens of the world's many tyrannies have every right to feel disgusted that those who possess these privileges value them so little and squander them so readily.
I don't know, though, I don't think people get apathetic about politics without reason. Fair enough, if I didn't have the right to vote I'd probably get ticked at people who don't make full use of their right to choose... but just pointing a finger at them and telling them off for not exercising their democratic right isn't the answer, I don't think. Better, perhaps, to ask why it is that people are so down on politics, especially given the passions it used to inspire in people...
8:15 PM | link
Howard Kurtz on when journalists have a responsibility to act against, rather than merely report, bad things.
8:02 PM | link
Thieves break into car, find themselves unable to get into their own car after locking the keys inside.
7:44 PM | link
Much as I dislike having to get my ears syringed by the doctor to blast wax out, I somehow think I'd like this even less.
7:43 PM | link
Have you always wanted a little illustration of a nuclear bomb blast on your car licence plates? Just head to Nevada!
7:41 PM | link
Egypt ready to declare war on Israel if Arab countries will foot the bill. Nice to see the Egyptian PM's willingness to keep the peace, eh...
7:38 PM | link
"Wittgenstein's Curse": or, the current tragic state of academic writing. If, like me, you wince every time you see the word "discourse" being blithely tossed about by people who should know better, this is something you should read.
7:21 PM | link
Man rams hair salon with vehicle after getting a bad haircut. I don't know if this is better or worse than what someone else did in a similar situation, they went to court over the bad haircut... me, the last haircut I got just compounded the errors of the previous haircut, which had been a poor one. Did I sue or assault the barber? Shit no. I just pissed and moaned about it and contemplated getting my head shaved so I could start from scratch, not that I did this in the end...
6:54 PM | link
Man takes cross on wheels to Bethlehem. I can see that bringing peace to the Middle East, can't you?
6:52 PM | link
After some positively cuntish behaviour from Blogger, we now attempt to return you to regular blogging. This post, incidentally, comes to you courtesy of blogBuddy, which I've had recommended to me in the past when I've bitched about Blogger. You might like to try it yourself; I'm still getting the hang of it, but it's not too bad so far...
6:46 PM | link
Talking of humour bypasses, it's starting to look like I've had one myself. Having looked at the Objective Ministries site in a bit more detail, I'm starting to come round to the idea I've seen expressed elsewhere that the whole thing has been set up for parodic purposes. This page for one leads me to suspect as much, as does this page, especially if you scroll down to the entry dated June 8, 2000, and take a squiz at the accompanying graphic. Either it's parody, an unusual manner of self-promotion (I begin to suspect the folks behind the Landover Baptist Church site now), or else we really are dealing with clueless people who have absolutely no conception of irony...
12:11 AM | link
The art of "bastard pop". That last paragraph is a beauty.
7:49 PM | link
Crackdown planned against people posing as war veterans. Damn right, too. I have various ethical problems when it comes to fighting wars and the like, especially Australia's seemingly endless willingness to fight wars that aren't even ours, but I'm prepared to recognise that joining the army is something that does require a certain bravery (and occasionally a little stupidity); and since I'm fundamentally too gutless to ever sign up myself (apart from any moral considerations I'm basically just chickenshit) I've no real difficulty recognising the efforts of those who do join. So I really don't have time for people who claim to have been in various wars, and I find the suggestion of the Opposition spokesman in the article that we should sympathise with these folks instead of fining them pretty weedy. It's sad all right that they feel a need to draw attention to themselves this way, but I still don't think it's an adequate excuse...
7:23 PM | link
Indian astrologer claims that planetary alignment could lead to some fucked situations after all.
7:01 PM | link
More evidence of a collective humour-bypass among the people who brought you the "Mac OS is Satan's work" thing a few days ago. This time they're up against the Landover Baptist Church:
Their modus operandi is simple: post articles that take good Christian values and twist them—beyond recognition—such that they look arrogant, hateful, or just idiotic.
Frankly Landover don't need to make Christianity look arrogant, hateful or idiotic. By professing to be authentic representatives of the Christian religion, Objective Christian Ministries are already doing an adequate job of that themselves.
6:53 PM | link
The Catholic Church still doesn't get it.
The U.S. prelates announced they will recommend moving more quickly to defrock any priest who has become a "serial predator" of minors, but they stopped short of a zero-tolerance policy to dismiss all abusive priests.
Pope John Paul II also called sex abuse a crime, and expressed solidarity with victims and their families.
So sex abuse is bad, nay illegal, but we still won't automatically expel all abusers. No wonder people are outraged at this bullshit...
6:47 PM | link
Wonderful. Everything you like to eat gives you cancer. I don't buy it, though. Strikes me as being much like TV violence, i.e. if it has that much influence why don't we see an infinitely worse crime rate. Similarly, if this alleged carcinogen does occur in so many foods, why don't we see millions more people dying from it? I'm not 100% convinced, and frankly it just sounds like a scare campaign to me...
6:42 PM | link
Britain's oldest bird, taught to swear by no less a personage than Winston Churchill.
5:54 PM | link
Is this is a good advertisement for the obvious manufacturing quality of Gucci watches or not?
5:50 PM | link
Director of SPAA resigns. Not a great time to be in the Australian film industry. Better keep note of this for the show on Monday...
4:07 PM | link
Charles Manson denied parole again. What a surprise.
3:55 PM | link
Monsignor: none of this priests-molesting-children stuff would've happened if the church hadn't let gays become priests.
"The tendency to homosexuality is a disorder, not a sin,'' Clark said in his 15-minute sermon Sunday. "But the practice of homosexuality is truly sinful.''
Clark also said the United States is "probably the most immoral country certainly in the Western Hemisphere'' and blamed American society for being "very protective'' of homosexuality.
Whether or not you consider the practice of homosexuality to be immoral, and plenty of folks still do, it's not illegal. On the other hand, the practice of pedophilia (by either gay or straight people) is. Perhaps if the church had been a bit less protective of the latter, they wouldn't be in quite this bind now...
3:44 PM | link
ArabNews worried about Jean-Marie Le Pen's success in France.
The swing to the far right represents a triumph of a sinister France, a France that does not want foreigners in its midst. This is not some internal matter, of concern only in France itself, or in the EU, which Le Pen vehemently opposes. His racism and xenophobia, with which one in six French men and women evidently identify, is a matter of the gravest concern for the rest of the world.
I can't wait for the shock revelations that the French use the blood of foreigners to make croissants.
3:37 PM | link
Piers Akerman in Turkey for Anzac Day. Frankly, if the Telegraph insist on keeping him on the payroll, I wish they'd get him to write more stuff like this. I've thought that in the past when they've sent him out from his cubicle on the right wing on expeditions like this. At least when they do that the result seems to be just dull and worthy as opposed to the tedious ideologically-driven bile-spitting he commonly hurls forth.
3:14 PM | link
Hamid Karzai's hat causes new Afghan fashion trend, despite its rather grisly origin. I don't know, I kind of like the look of it myself, but am not so sure now...
3:08 PM | link
Kenyan woman dying of AIDS causing panic. I mean, holy shit, if I lived in that village I'd be terrified too, under the circumstances. Way to air dirty laundry is all I can say...
2:55 PM | link
Mohammed Al-Fayed, just fucking get over it. No one else believes this Dodi-&-Diana-conpsiracy bullshit apart from you, you tedious crank. Wake up to yourself and realise how pathetic you are.
2:52 PM | link
However strapped for cash you are, would you really prefer a job where the whole point is to have knives thrown at you?
2:43 PM | link
The real Scorpion King. How odd. I didn't think I was that far behind on mythology, and yet I never heard of this character until I read something about the film a week or two ago. I knew about the pharoah Narmer (a.k.a. Menes) already, but didn't know about his predecessor. Is he that obscure? Hmm.
2:41 PM | link
Judge orders chain gang escapees to watch Cool Hand Luke. Is this the judge's way of saying what'll happen to them if they try to pull a runner again?
2:35 PM | link
US gov't report finds the just-say-no approach to sex education just doesn't work. They needed a report to find that out?
2:21 PM | link
US singles charts entirely free of British performers for the first time since 1963. Is it because the British stuff is crap or is it, as the British critic here suggests, because the Yanks have enough crap of their own without having to import it?
2:19 PM | link
Australian judge criticised for slurs against Volvo drivers. Next: judge bans the Fatima Mansions' song "Only Losers Take The Bus" for discriminating against people without cars.
2:04 PM | link
 What tin-pot dictator are you? Take the "What Dictator am I?" test at PoisonedMinds.com |
11:34 PM | link
Taxing sci-fi books to fund NASA? Yes, someone's announced that as a serious plan.
A pro-life candidate, Williams also promises if elected to sponsor a bill that would allow abortions only in cases of rape, incest or for medical reasons. He also favors providing money for medical research to perform "pre-birth" adoptions, which "will allow for the safe removal of unborn children from their mothers that does not harm the mothers or the unborn children."
I just wonder which books he's planning to tax to fund those things...
3:26 PM | link
Billy Bragg unleashes anti-monarchy single for the Queen's Jubilee. Uh-huh. Sorry, Billy, but the Sex Pistols did this 25 years ago and were funnier than you. You'll forgive me if I listen to them instead.
3:16 PM | link
Caltex "surprised" at the ACCC's investigation into allegations of petrol companies' price-fixing. I daresay they could be more surprised if Dr Fels wins this investigation and makes them cut their absurd prices. Frankly I'll be surprised too, but it's a nice thought...
3:13 PM | link
Swearing on the increase on American TV.
"This is all about the coarsening of the culture, the dumbing down of America," said Melissa Caldwell, who conducted the PTC's research. "There used to be a stigma about using certain words. Unfortunately, those standards are eroding."
Well fuck me, but what the fuck is up with that, you cunt? What a fucking load of shit. Standards? Piss on that. Standards are for arseholes. Fucking nothing wrong with a good fucking swear every so often. Shit yeah. Anyway, they reckon that's bad, they just haven't been tuning into Australian or British TV in the past decade or so, and should probably be grateful the US has taken so long to catch up...
3:10 PM | link
Berlin police tell Jews they can avoid anti-Semitic attacks by looking less Jewish. Uh-huh. And if there were a wave of anti-Caucasian attacks going on, would they tell people to not look so white? Despite denying the claims at first, police officials have since apologised for the statement, as they bloody well should've done...
2:59 PM | link
I've heard of back-masking allegedly being used in records before, but this is just ridiculous.
2:37 PM | link
Before I bid you all good night, I must say thanks to Jim for pointing this out to me. I foresee this being added to my not entirely humble album collection next week, yes...
11:57 PM | link
Get your WTC Victims Trading Cards here! Amazingly, a number of victims' families have actually authorised this. Is there anything in the world too horrendous for money to be made from it?
8:55 PM | link
Production of The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas cancelled over "profanity" dispute. The theatre board objected to the use of the word "goddamn" (or "g--damn") as the article puts it), thus leading 32 of the 34 cast members to walk off in disgust. Presumably the board weren't so bothered by the title or the subject matter, though...
8:52 PM | link
Young love can lead to depression in girls. Uuuuuuuuuuuh. Is anyone honestly going to be too surprised by this study's findings?
8:14 PM | link
South American tribe develops lie-proof language. And still misunderstandings arise...
8:12 PM | link
Mac OS X is the work of Satan. This is so deranged it's magnificent.
7:58 PM | link
Attack of the Clones: crap title, but no stupid characters or kids. And uncle George actually hired someone to work over his dialogue, which even he now has to admit was not exactly his strong point. I don't know. I'll believe it when I see it. Still tossing up whether to pay cinema prices for it or catch it on video, like I eventually did with The Phantom Menace...
7:56 PM | link
Bin Laden nukes Britain... or does he? All I can say is the person who thought of this is an absolute fuckwit. This was neither big nor clever.
7:43 PM | link
Pope orders priests to be perfect. Um.
As the priests gathered in St. Peter's Basilica, John Paul told them that Jesus expects a "higher loyalty" from them, a more rigorous poverty and humility. "He asks of you to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect," he said. "In a word, the Lord wants you to be holy."
I think people will forgive priests for not being holy if they would just stop buggering children. And does anyone else find the notion of the leader of the Catholic Church calling for "rigorous poverty" to be more than mildly ironic?
7:38 PM | link
P. Diddy discriminates against clowns. He has, get this, a "no-clown" clause in his performing contracts. Is it just me or does anyone else reckon uncle Seanie is a bigger clown than those guys with the funny suits and painted faces?
7:35 PM | link
Bill Gates warns judge in Microsoft antitrust case of dire consequences—for Microsoft. I think that's the point, Bill, the case is meant to have dire consequences for you...
7:29 PM | link
Capalert vs. The Scorpion King. Here's the contents of the film as discerned by everyone's favourite Christian fundie review service:
Wanton Violence/Crime: hanging, multiple murders, period warfare deaths/violence, threat to kill, many sword fights, decapitated head, order to kill, deaths by sinking sand, stabbings, attempted behanding of a young boy, deaths by incineration, death by fall, fighting, blade/impalement injuries, deaths by explosion
Impudence/Hate: theft by adolescent, son enjoying killing and beheading his father, keeping his father's head as a trophy, display of catching arrows coming directly at body trunk
Sex/Homosexuality: inappropriate touch, excess cleavage (repeatedly), many, many instances of dressing to maximize the female form and/or skin exposure, including full side nudity and occasional revealings of gender-specific features, flash nudity, sexual talk, prostitutes making sex offers, nudity (repeatedly), portrayal of young boy wishing for and getting a nude woman, woman straddling prone face-up man, nude man and woman together ostensibly for intercourse, man and two women together in bed
Drugs/Alcohol: drunken revelry, drinking, multiple
Offense to God: worship of gods, visions by sorcery (repeatedly), sorcery to draw arrow poison out of man
Murder/Suicide: murder by sword, murder by cutting throat, multiple murders, murder by knife, murder by arrows, murder by lance
I have SO got to see this now. I initially just dismissed it by the very idea of it, just sounded like crap in theory, but it's actually got some decent reviews. Sounds like it might be entertaining enough, especially if Capalert's publicity screed above is accurate... meanwhile, here's another viewpoint.
7:24 PM | link
Time Warner to sell AOL? After AOL went to the trouble of buying them, THIS is how they show their gratitude?
7:16 PM | link
Natalie Portman strikes back. It seems to be OK to like this particular celebrity for taking a political stand on something (in this case responding—under her actual name—to a fellow Harvard student's piece about Israel), but not someone like Bono. Maybe Bono should write letters to small university publications signed Paul Hewson and he'd be accepted? Not that I have any animus against Natalie Portman, mind, she's entitled to express an opinion and I do find it rather cool in a way. Incidentally, her opponent reportedly barked back that they only printed her response because she's a movie star. So which movies has he starred in, I ask?
7:12 PM | link
Another example of the gradually thinning line between church and state in the US at the moment.
7:04 PM | link
Should deep-linking (i.e. where you link to a page further down a website than the front page) be illegal? This character, and the Danish Newspaper Publishers' Association, reckon so. I don't know. I think it's nice if people come to my site via the front page, if for no other reason than it looks good in the counter stats, but if someone links to an individual page (as has happened in the past) then I've no particular objection to it. Apparently they're claiming deep-linking is a copyright violation, though I'll admit to being buggered as to how this is the case. Frankly, if you put something on the Net at all you're entering into a copyright grey area anyway...
6:51 PM | link
Dave Tepper suggests improvements to Atlas Shrugged. "Who is John Galt? No longer a virgin, for starters." As for me, well, I don't think there's that much wrong with the book, certainly nothing that a 5,000º furnace couldn't fix...
6:44 PM | link
Meanwhile, the Socialist Party wins in Hungary, even though the new prime minister apparently isn't a party member.
6:40 PM | link
France freaks out at National Front success. Glenn Reynolds is no doubt having a field day at this news. They reckon Jacques Chirac will still beat out Le Pen in the next round, but it's not a good sign, not with that Haider character in Austria as well...
6:16 PM | link
No blogging yesterday cos I couldn't be arsed. On the odd chance that anyone cares or was wondering.
5:37 PM | link
Why do people dislike Cornel West so much? I've observed a few bloggers taking swipes at him, and I've been at a loss to understand why. The author of the article I've linked to seems to sniff at West for not being enough of a serious academic, though the somewhat smug, self-satisfied tone ("at least I'm still a real academic") seems to me like it could just be masking a bit of jealousy...
5:48 PM | link
RIP Layne Staley from Alice in Chains. Looks like yet another sordid rock musician drug death...
5:15 PM | link
It's Patriots vs Anti-Globo's in Washington DC! At least, so says Newsmax:
Thousands of pro-America demonstrators organized by the web site FreeRepublic.com are expected in Washington, D.C. Saturday, braving what city officials fear could be a wave of anti-globalist protesters hell bent on violence.
Police are braced for tens of thousands of anti-capitalist hooligans and terrorist sympathizers to fill city streets. In a sign that things could turn ugly, city workers cleared sidewalks on Friday of anything that wasn't nailed down.
This is going to be fun to watch, though to be honest I find it sad. I'm not entirely in favour of globalisation, and I'm all for the right of people to protest peacefully, but when you get shit like what happened in Seattle and Melbourne then I have no time for that. That's when I ask, are these people anti-capitalist hooligans, or just hooligans? Are legitimately concerned protesters being outnumbered by fuckwits just out to smash stuff? And are the pro-capitalist forces going to be much better than them, too? I remember the rioting over Xmas at Bondi Beach some years ago, and being told by a relative who knew someone in the police force that said person had claimed he was going to be part of the squad at the beach that New Year (since further shit was feared, and I think eventuated as well), but he was going to make trouble, not stop it. I'd like to think we can trust the police to behave properly and not stoop to the level of the idiots they're trying to defend people from, but I'm afraid I don't...
5:00 PM | link
Thousands of blank birth and death certificates stolen. Not surprisingly, terrorism resulting from the theft is now feared. Amusingly enough, this comes after I was watching a film called The Wrong Box last night, which also features a blank death certificate being used for nefarious purposes...
4:44 PM | link
Five people arrested in Darwin for having a metre-long joint. Holy shit. There's something new for stoner mythology, eh? "Dude, I remember this amazing bong..." "Dude, I remember this even better spliff..."
4:09 PM | link
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About this site
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Links
I have various reasons for linking the sites below (a link rarely constitutes a 100% endorsement, of course). I'm usually happy to link to anyone who specifically asks, or anyone who links to me. I reserve the right to remove any link at any time for any reason.
1. Local heroes
The Age
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The Bitchin' Monaro Guide to Politics
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Catallaxy Files
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2. Strange news from other stars
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The Rittenhouse Review
Sasha Castel
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3.Non-blog/news links
I have a very extensive collection of links not specifically related to blogging. I keep them on an entirely separate page here.
What the critics have said
"short tempered, rude, sarcastic and generally unable to cope with authority figures"
-Martin Forrester-Reid (former employer)
"formidable"
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"outstandingly quirky"
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"pithy"
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"excellent"
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"my Australian pal"
-Eric Olsen
"Who?"
-Glenn Reynolds
